


More Than Words Can Say

by So_Ginelle



Series: KrTsk Fluff Week Event [7]
Category: Haikyuu!!
Genre: Birthday, Birthday Party, Cats, Cutting, Family Drama, Fluff, Implied/Referenced Self-Harm, It is definitely cute, KrTsk Fluff Week, KrTskfluffweek, KurooTsukki Fluff Week, Kurotsuki fluff week, Light Angst, M/M, Meet the Family, Past Neglect, Pet, Scar Worship, Self-Harm, flangst, flangsty, still cute, triggering
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-12-23
Updated: 2018-12-23
Packaged: 2019-09-25 07:11:14
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,121
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17116781
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/So_Ginelle/pseuds/So_Ginelle
Summary: While not knowing everything about each other, Tsukishima makes it his goal to support Kuroo through his troublesome history and wants him to know that he will be there for Kuroo through it all, regardless of what lies hidden in the past.





	More Than Words Can Say

**Author's Note:**

> Today's prompts are:
> 
>  
> 
> **Scar Worship | Meet the family | Pet**
> 
>  
> 
> THIS IS A WARNING. THIS FIC MAY BE TRIGGERING TO ANYONE WITH SELF HARM TRIGGERS. PLEASE DO NOT READ IF HEARING ABOUT SELF HARM ISSUES BOTHER YOU.

"Kuroo, come on, open the door. It's fucking freezing out here," Tsukishima said as he shifted on his feet and he tried to wrap his jacket around himself further. Had he had his jacket zipped up, maybe he wouldn't feel the chill of the wind go down his spine and seep to his core. It had to be twenty seconds later that the front door to Kuroo's apartment had opened up finally and Kuroo came to the door in nothing but his boxers. "Thank you for finally opening the door," Tsukki said as he pushed passed his boyfriend and shivered in the welcoming heat of Kuroo's apartment.

With a scoff, Kuroo pushed his door closed and shook his head. "Well hello to you too. I was asleep, thank you very much," he said in a very gruff and sleepy voice. He yawned and stretched himself upward a bit before he scratched at his bare stomach and shook his head at Tsukki. Then, the cold had seemed to hit him from the door, so he wrapped his arms around his torso. "Also... I love seeing you, but tell me. What are you doing here? Usually you don't come around unless we have plans or... or you're in a mood..."

Was this a joke? It had to be a joke that Kuroo was asking what Tsukki was doing at his apartment right now. He stared at Kuroo and just stood there, not quite sure how to respond to him at the moment. "You don't remember?" Tsukishima had asked in a questioning tone. This really couldn't be real life.

That was when Kuroo rose an eyebrow toward him and slowly shook his head. It seemed like it was going to be a very long day if Kuroo couldn't even remember why he asked Tsukishima to come over, or that he had even asked his boyfriend to make the hour trip over to his apartment. "Uh... It's not even close to our anniversary, and it's not one of our birthdays, it's not a holiday..." Kuroo said as he walked passed Tsukishima and went towards the bedroom.

It only took a moment for Tsukishima to follow after Kuroo and he stood in the doorway of his bedroom as Kuroo climbed back into bed, seeming as if he was going to go back to sleep. "It's not one of _our_ birthdays, no. But if you remember, it is your dad's birthday today and he is celebrating tonight at his house. You asked me to come over last night so I could come to the party and meet your dad and the other family members," Tsukishima said as he eyed his boyfriend.

As Kuroo sat up on the bed, he looked at Tsukishima in confusion. "Wait... Today is... What's the day today?" Kuroo asked as he reached for his phone on his bedside table.

The look of surprise on Kuroo's face had grown and he gawked at the day it said. "It's Saturday... well shit. I guess I did ask you to come over for that. Ugh," Kuroo groaned as he threw himself back into the mattress and he threw his hands over his face. "Not ugh to you being here or anything, but... I guess I have no choice but to get ready," Kuroo said. Apparently, Kuroo had been too sleepy too remember what the day was when he asked Tsukishima to come over, or something along those lines. Either way though, Tsukki was there.

Shaking his head, Tsukishima came further into the room. "We have a couple of hours, but you really should get ready soon," Tsukishima said as he shrugged off his jacket and he settled it down on the chair in the room. When he walked over to take a seat on the bed, he eyed Kuroo as if to push him to get off the bed and get him to go get ready sooner rather than later.

Taking a breath, Kuroo moved to stand up and he went towards the closet, going to go get a pair of jeans and a shirt. When he came back over to the bed, he handed the red shirt to Tsukishima, and he started to climb into his jeans. It caused Tsukishima to want to go through Kuroo's closet just to see what color the shirt was. Did Kuroo only own red shirts?

As Tsukishima took the shirt, he grazed his eyes over his boyfriend's nice body. Really, Kuroo did have a nice body and he took care of himself, staying fit and healthy. His abdomen was toned and muscular, his arms were very toned and looked super nice without too much muscle to make him look too bulky, and Tsukishima only dared a brief glance at Kuroo's thighs while he was trying to pull his pants up. He had a feeling it would be a dangerous thing to do, and god, he was right. Kuroo's thighs were beyond attractive and that was why he only dared to look at them for a few seconds.

The moment that Tsukishima looked away from Kuroo's thighs was the moment his eye caught on something against Kuroo's skin though. "Wait..." Tsukishima said to Kuroo, who only had one of his legs in the pair of pants. Stopping for a moment, Kuroo rose an eyebrow as Tsukishima reached for the leg hole on Kuroo's boxers.

"Really babe? Right no-"

"What's this?" Tsukishima interrupted, glancing up to Kuroo in curiosity before his eyes looked back down to what he was doing with his fingers. Tsukishima had pushed Kuroo's boxers up just far enough to reveal a bunch of light purple marks against his skin. They were very clearly scars, and they were scars that had been there for quite some time.

When Kuroo jerked and then froze, Tsukishima looked up to him as if to prod Kuroo along into telling him what the marks were from. When he didn't answer, Tsukishima looked back down at the marks and brushed a finger over the skin, to feel the way they sank in and the way they were smoother compared to his other skin. "I uh... I was a reckless teenager and I was always hurting myself?" Kuroo offered up.

There was something in the way that Kuroo had said what he did that caused Tsukishima to not believe him. He wanted to know what it was that caused Kuroo to get these scars, and he wanted to know more about Kuroo's past now. But it seemed as though Kuroo was not in the sharing mood at the moment, which caused Tsukishima to sigh and push himself off the bed, onto the floor and onto his knees.

Kuroo looked down to Tsukishima with confused eyes. "You really need to work on your timing, ba-"

At that given moment, Kuroo was cut off and he realized what Tsukishima was doing. He wasn't pulling his boxers off, nor was he trying to do anything too lewd. Tsukishima had simply pushed the fabric of Kuroo's boxer briefs up on his leg and he had grazed his fingers over the scars that were there before he pressed his lips to Kuroo's skin, right over each and every scar. There were dozens of them, so it took Tsukishima a moment to find them all and kiss all of them.

They did this for two or so minutes on each leg, because Tsukishima wanted to see if Kuroo had scars on the other leg too, which he did. "You know... I don't know what happened here, and I won't force you to tell me about being a reckless teenager or anything, but I am always here for you and I promise not to let anything like this happen to you again," Tsukishima said.

It seemed that Kuroo was getting to be just a bit too emotional about all of this. When Tsukishima moved to stand, Kuroo seemed to be lost in thought and his face was clearly one of emotional turmoil at that very moment. He slowly reached for Tsukishima and wrapped his arms around him, pulling him in closely. "I love you..." Kuroo murmured as he pressed a kiss to Tsukishima's cheek.

"I love you too, always," Tsukishima whispered as he held on to Kuroo.

Eventually the two boys pulled away from one another. When Kuroo had, he apparently forgot that he was trying to put pants on and he tripped over the one pant leg, toppling into Tsukishima. The two boys laughed after and Kuroo fixed himself before he finished getting dressed.

As the time had passed by slowly and they lounged in the living room before they had to leave, Tsukishima had a bit of a thought. "Did you get your dad anything?" he asked, raising an eyebrow to Kuroo. He wondered if they would have to stop to go get a gift for him, and though Tsukishima wasn't sure why he was so concerned about this, since it wasn't his actual father as of right now.

Kuroo nodded and as he yawned, pulling Tsukishima against him as they lounged on Kuroo's couch. The two boys looked at one another and they shared a gentle kiss before pulling away. "Yeah, it's in my car already. I got him a pair of gloves and a couple decks of good playing cards he can use when he invites his poker buddies over," Kuroo said with a shrug. That answer was fair enough and even if the gifts weren't the most thoughtful of presents, Tsukishima didn't know Kuroo's relationship with his father, so he wasn't going to question it.

The time came when the two boys were meant to leave and they loaded into the car, taking the trip to Kuroo's dad's house. It was Kuroo's childhood home, where Kuroo had grown up and the house he was living in when he met Tsukki. There were fond memories in this house for Kuroo, but there were also memories that weren't too great for him. Kuroo would have to focus on the good memories if he wanted to make it through the night.

As the pair of boys entered the home, Kuroo took a breath to see all of the old family friends all around, some were sitting, and some were standing. They all seemed to be in a conversation with someone in the group and none of them paid too much attention to Kuroo and Tsukki just walking in with gifts in their hands.

With a sigh, Kuroo motioned to Tsukki to take off his shoes and pointed to where the coat racks were. Tsukishima nodded, as he didn't want to be rude in someone else's house. If he was rude in Kuroo's apartment, it didn't matter too much. Pushing the limits in Kuroo's dad's house though, that was going a little too far, so he would be kind and take off his shoes and jacket.

As they started to enter the home once their shoes and jackets had been taken care of, Kuroo went to go chat with some of the other people in the apartment and Tsukishima felt like a lost puppy in that moment, just following after him and listening in on the way Kuroo was having small-talk conversations.

There were a few people who asked Tsukishima who he was, and Kuroo would just put his arm around Tsukki and say that he was Kuroo's boyfriend. Kuroo had made a few comments when introducing Tsukishima that were along the lines of 'he's the boyfriend I don't deserve' or 'oh, Tsukishima is the boyfriend I have that sticks around for some reason. I don't know why.' Those comments caused Tsukishima to frown a bit, because he didn't want Kuroo to think that way, and he certainly didn't want Kuroo to think that he wasn't worth Tsukishima's time.

When Tsukki had finally pulled Kuroo aside to assure him that there was nowhere he would rather be, and to make sure Kuroo knew that Tsukishima was there because he wanted to be and Kuroo had things to offer, Kuroo looked around Tsukishima for a moment and his face seemed to go white and it dropped. Tsukishima didn't get a chance to say anything more than a few words before he realized Kuroo wasn't listening or paying attention.

As Tsukishima turned around, he tried to find what Kuroo was looking at. There really was nothing that stood out and Tsukishima was rather confused at the moment. "Babe...?" Tsukki asked quietly and he looked back to Kuroo's face. It had started to go void of all emotion and he was still staring over Tsukishima's shoulder.

"Why is... why is she here...?" Kuroo murmured in just barely above a whisper.

Turning back around and then going back to Kuroo's eyes, it seemed like Kuroo's eyes were following after someone. Finally figuring out who Kuroo was watching, it caused Tsukishima to wonder just why Kuroo cared that someone in particular was here. "Who is she, Tetsu?" Tsukki asked and he looked at Kuroo's face.

As Tsukishima asked his question, Kuroo turned back around to the punch bowl and he set his cup down. "Fuck..." Kuroo said quietly. Tsukishima saw the tension in Kuroo's shoulders right then and Tsukishima watched as Kuroo's hand seemed to go absentmindedly to his thigh, right where the scars were that Tsukishima had found earlier that day. He started to pick, and this was very concerning.

When Tsukishima had gone to wrap his arms around his boyfriend, he heard a voice from across the room. "Tetsurou? Baby! Oh baby, how I've missed you!" the lady had said and Tsukishima turned around to see the lady that Kuroo had been following with his eyes start approaching them.

That was when Kuroo turned around. The lady may not have seen it, but Tsukishima could see the tears that had built lightly in his eyes. "Hey, mom. It has been a while," he said. The woman instantly threw her arms around Kuroo and Tsukishima took a step back, just watching how the scene continued to unfold. Kuroo did hug back, but the hug was lacking emotion and energy.

Finally the hug had ended, and Kuroo gave a very halfhearted smile to her. "I couldn't miss your dad's fiftieth birthday. I'm so glad you're here too," she said and she looked over to Tsukishima, who gave her a polite nod. "And who is this?" she asked, pointing over to Tsukki.

When she had asked that question, Tetsurou reached for Tsukishima's hand and pulled him closer. "He's... He's my boyfriend," Tetsu had said, looking over at Tsukishima and he gave him a look that seemed to beg Tsukishima to help him. "Has been for a little more than two years now," Kuroo said as he cleared his throat and finally looked back to his mother.

With a hum, she nodded and smiled. "You better take care of my boy, you hear?" she said as a playful threat, but she laughed right after, so Tsukki knew she wasn't being serious right then. "I'm glad you could join us, lovely. I hope to see more of you, and I hope that Tetsurou doesn't give you too much trouble," she said as he tried to playfully nudge Kuroo's shoulder.

As a party game had started and it seemed that Kuroo's dad had finally made an appearance, Kuroo's mom had left to go join the game and Tsukishima could see just how much all of this was affecting his boyfriend at the moment, right with all of the emotions on his face. There had to be a way to pull Kuroo away and get the boy to talk to him. This had to be a lot for Kuroo to handle at the moment and Tsukishima hardly knew about Kuroo's family struggles as he was growing up.

It seemed that Kuroo didn't want to talk about it though. He seemed to just throw himself into something else or anything at all at the given moment and whenever Tsukishima wanted to try to talk, Kuroo found something else to occupy his time with.

As the night went on and Tsukishima stopped trying, he noticed how often the cat in the home would come over to Kuroo and Kuroo would often pick up the cat to settle her on his lap, petting her gently and watching as the cat burrowed into Kuroo's warmth. It was very nice to see Kuroo being so fond of the family pet, and it was such a blessing to see Kuroo so very kind to an animal. He knew that Kuroo had wanted one, but he didn't want the cat to be left alone at the apartment all day, and Tsukishima understood that. But it was still nice to see Kuroo being so fond of the family cat. "She's getting old. She used to be limber and playful, but now she can't move as easily and she just likes to cuddle a lot more..." Kuroo murmured to Tsukishima.

This was just another side of Kuroo that Tsukishima hadn't seen, and he caused Tsukishima's heart to grow just a little more fond of his boyfriend at the moment. "I love you," Tsukishima said randomly, reaching for Kuroo's hand.

At that moment, the cat had decided that Tsukishima looked like a good person to cuddle, so she had stepped over to his lap and just collapsed into the heat of his legs. Tsukishima snickered a bit and used his free hand to pet the old girl. "I love you too. Apparently she does too," Kuroo said with a grin. He leaned over to kiss Tsukishima briefly.

As the party went on, there were a few more moments when Kuroo had seemed to be brought back to his past and he had absentmindedly gone to pick at his thigh through his jeans. "Why does my past keep coming back today..." he murmured at one moment that seemed to bring back memories that he wasn't too particularly fond of. It was a memory of when Kuroo was a kid that someone from the party had brought up and Tsukishima wished he could do more to help.

The party had come to an end and Kuroo was one of the last people to leave, along with Tsukishima obviously. Kuroo's mother hadn't left yet either. "Hey, thanks for coming tonight!" Kuroo's father had said. He hugged Kuroo tightly, and he offered Tsukishima a hand shake. "It was so nice to meet you officially. I know we've met before, but to actually spend time with you was nice. You're really good for him, I can tell," his father said, and Tsukishima smiled at the comment.

"Yeah, he is really good for me," Tetsurou had said with a small smile.

When his mother had come over, Tetsurou tensed up gently and Tsukishima could see that tension in his shoulders as she spoke. "You got to meet Tsukishima already and I never got the chance to? How unfair! Either way though, you do seem like a very nice boy and Tetsu here wouldn't keep you around if you weren't treating him nicely. Take good care of him," she said as he pulled on her jacket. "I should be going. Happy birthday once again. It was nice seeing everyone again and I hope to get to see more of you, Tsukishima," she said before she walked out.

After she left, that was when the room went a little quiet. Tetsurou turned to his father and it seemed like he knew exactly what his son was going to say. "She text me the other week and she wanted to know if she could do anything for my birthday. I couldn't tell her no, so I invited her for the party instead. I know, I know, it was a dumb choice. But the party went well! Thank you for being here, son. Also, thank you, Tsukishima, for being so good to him. He needs that in his life," Kuroo's father had said, and Tsukishima nodded to him, looking at the emotions that were rolling over Kuroo's face.

When they hugged and Tsukishima and Kuroo were finally out the front door with shoes and coats on, Tsukishima offered to drive due to Kuroo's emotional state, which he was very thankful for at the time.

After they got back to Kuroo's apartment, Tsukishima walked with Kuroo to the door and he helped Kuroo get the door unlocked. They finally got inside and Tsukishima could see that there were left over emotions all over Kuroo's face at the moment. There had to be something that Tsukishima could do to help this. "Babe... hey, listen... So I don't know about your past, and I don't need to right now. But you know I am always here for you, no matter what happens. I love you. I care about you," Tsukishima said quietly.

Eventually, Kuroo had turned to look at Tsukishima, and it seemed like every single emotion that was possible to be felt had made its way across Kuroo's face right then. He was struggling to get to an appropriate emotion for the situation, but Kuroo had eventually dropped his head and he bit his lip. It looked as though he were holding things back, but Tsukishima knew that it wasn't healthy for Kuroo to hold things in like this. So he did the best thing he could think of and he moved closer to his boyfriend so he could put his hands on Kuroo's shoulders and stand there with him. "You're okay... I'm here, babe..." Tsukishima said before he slowly wrapped his arms around Kuroo and held him tightly.

After another minute, Kuroo let out a sob and he started to cry harder than Tsukishima has ever witnessed him crying before. "Sh-shit..." Kuroo said, holding on to Tsukishima tightly and burrowing his head into Tsukki's shoulder.

When enough time had passed to allowed Kuroo to ease up on his crying, he started to sniffle just a bit and he shook his head. "S-so those scars... On my legs? Yes I was a reckless teen, but... I didn't get too injured..." Kuroo managed. Tsukishima nodded and he had a feeling he knew where Kuroo was going with all of this. "I used... I used to c-cut myself... those are the scars..."

Taking a deep breath and exhaling, Tsukishima could feel the tears start to prick in his eyes. To think that Kuroo had to resort to those measures must have been miserably hard. Tsukki couldn't imagine. "You're still here now though, and that is what matters..." he whispered and he rubbed his arm over Kuroo's back.

Kuroo continued to cry and he was digging his fingers into Tsukishima's back as he held onto his shirt. "M-my mom... she was... sh-she was why I cut myself... She was never there for me a-and she left my dad when... wh-when I was young... She broke her promises more times than I can count..." Kuroo managed to say. It was such a heartfelt statement that Tsukishima started to dig his fingers into Kuroo's shirt with the emotions that he was personally feeling on his own..

Honestly, Tsukki couldn't imagine having to go through any of what Kuroo had gone through at any age. He couldn't imagine not having a mom to be there for him when he was in his own upset mood, he couldn't imagine a parent abandoning him and leaving him to grow up with just the other, and he certainly couldn't imagine being so upset to cut himself over it. But now that he knew that these were the things that caused Kuroo to do it, he knew how to avoid having Kuroo do it again.

The two boys stood there and held each other, slowly swaying and rocking with one another. They eventually were too tired to let their emotions win, so the two boys pulled back and Tsukki reached to brush Kuroo's tears off of his cheeks. "I don't know what the future holds, but... I promise you that I will never leave you like your mom left you. I will never hurt you like your mom hurt you..."

That sent Kuroo into another round of tears and sobbing, but Tsukishima walked Kuroo back into the bedroom so they could fall into bed and Kuroo could cry himself to sleep on Tsukishima's chest. There was no reason to stay standing right then. When they finally had calmed down enough to sleep, the two boys cuddled in closely and they held one another. Kuroo let out a very quiet "I love you Tsukki..."

"I love you too, Kuroo." Nothing else needed to be said. Tsukishima really did love Kuroo more than words.


End file.
